ESM 211- Deforestation

The problem of deforestation is as old as human quest for settlement and improved quality of life. The current status of the worlds deforested forest is quite alarming. This problem is more pronounced among less developed economic societies. Ironically most of these forest products are not consumed by the less developed society s world over. The values of deforestation are highlighted below as articulated by Jones et al (1990), Cunningham & Cunning ham (2002) and Cunningham, Cunning ham & Saigo (2005). • Worldwide we lost 9 - 12. 3 million ha of forest per year between 1990 and 2000 to deforestation. This occurred mostly in tropical Africa (5.3 million ha / yr.) and South America (3.5 million ha / yr. ). • Congo and Amazon River basins posses currently highest rates of deforestation in the world. Congo currently loses about 4 million ha of forest per year. • In 1997 forest fires on Borneo and Sumatra and made worse by serious drought led to the loss of 20,000 km2 of forest. The fires were set both to clear land for agriculture and to hide illegal logging. • In 1999 31, 000 fires outbreak were spotted via satellite in a single month in Brazil rain forests. • Remote sensing experts estimate that about 20 million acres per year were being cut or burned in the Amazon basin alone. • Interestingly, Brazil has the largest tropical forest in the world, ironically it has the highest rate of deforestation in the world. • Indonesia and Malaysia combined is loosing as much forest as Brazil in a year. • Major tropical rain forests were lost in Ivor y Coast, Nigeria, Liberia, Guinea and Ghana with a rate of deforestation seven times more than the worlds average. Senegal, Sierra Leone, Madagascar and Cameroon are also faced with similar problem. • In North America - Haiti once had 80% forestation, currently it is mostly destroyed and the land lies barren and eroded. • In Central America nearly 66% of the old growth tropical forest has been deforested in the